Chapter Five: The Longest Night
Kelly came downstairs around 8:00.
Her face was carefully arranged into sympathetic concern. The performance was impressive — Ernest had to give her that. She sat beside him on the couch, close enough to feel warm, distant enough to feel nothing.
“Hey,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I disappeared like that. This is just such shocking news.”
Ernest looked up from his laptop. He’d been pretending to browse job listings. He’d actually been reading the divorce filing documents Patricia had emailed him.
“It’s okay. I know it’s scary.”
She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder.
The touch made his skin crawl.
But he didn’t flinch.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said. “We’re a team, right? For better or worse.”
The irony of those wedding vows coming out of her mouth almost made him laugh. Almost. He kept his face neutral. Even managed to look grateful.
“Thanks, Kelly. That means a lot.”
She smiled. It looked so genuine that for one terrible moment, Ernest questioned everything.
Could he have misunderstood?
Could there be some explanation?
Then she spoke again.
“You should probably start looking into how much unemployment you’ll qualify for. And we should sit down and really look at our budget. Figure out what we can cut.”
Already calculating. Already figuring out whether it was worth staying or cutting her losses.
“I will,” Ernest promised. “First thing tomorrow.”
Kelly stood up, stretching.
“I’m going to take a bath and head to bed early. Today has been exhausting. Good night.”
“Good night.”
He watched her walk away.
And he felt nothing.
No sadness. No longing. Not even anger anymore. Just a cold, calm determination to make sure she didn’t get away with what she’d planned.
